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'My toaster still has a slider to select how long I want to cook it.' And this is great, simple UI that means you can use it without a manual. If we we're to l

'My toaster still has a slider to select how long I want to cook it.' And this is great, simple UI that means you can use it without a manual. If we we're to liken a lot of "configurable" software to the toaster it would: * A resistance range setting that defined the max and min resistance ranges of the internal heating element, implicitly measured in ohms. * A resistance setting to defines the current resistance from 0 - 100% where the percentage set gets it's temperature from the range defined with the resistance range UI element. * A timer setter that allows you to set the time-to-cook value via a ISO 8601 formatted duration. etc.

KGIII 9y ago
Indeed, so give me the option for that. I don't mind paying for software. Hell, I used to pay for my browser. Or, you know, stop dumbing it down in the first place. When you design for the lowest common denominator, you get users that are the lowest common denominator. I get it, it makes good financial sense. However, those of us with an IQ higher than room temperature are left out in the cold. You had those options in there - you took 'em out. Put 'em back. Joe Sixpack will learn and improve. You'll get better and smarter users. You'll get users more confident and needing less support. Take an extra day and write good help documents, put the options back, and give ol' Joe a web form to query the FAQs. Ol' Joe will figure it out. I did. Joe can figure it out too. We all did, back in the day. If you don't give them incentive to learn, they're not going to learn. You're stuck with dumb users - forever. You don't want that, do you? Do you really want to have to keep telling Joe how to set up his email client? No? Well, give Joe incentive to learn how to set up his email client. When Joe calls your helpdesk line, say, "Hey, Joe - did you read the manual?" Give him a reason to mash those buttons until he becomes an expert button masher (also known as an admin). And, if you can't train Joe, you can use some pretty neat tools to lock his PC right down - and only let him do what you want him to do. If it's his cell phone, well - that's what he's got the restore option for. Ol' Joe will quickly learn to push buttons, fix his own problems, and actually understand what goes on inside that magic box - at least a little. Seriously, we did this for decades. User friendly is good, but it's gone too far when there aren't even configuration options, a close button, a home button, or a help file. DId y'all forget how to write help documents? There's some great examples out there. You can crib from those. I'm not kidding about VLC pretty much having it perfect. Load up VLC and have a look in the options. Open VLC > Click on Tools > Click on Preferences. Once you're there, have a look around. That's pretty great, right? It's not too overwhelming, now is it? That's not the best part. In the lower left, click on "All." It's right next to the Simple option - simple, like Ol' Joe. Click on that button and then take a peek at the options. It's a virtual cornucopia of button goodness. It has options for things they're probably just making up as they go along. It's pretty much perfect. Even a plain text editor should have options like that. While not a plain text editor, LibraOffice is actually another example of a fine set of options. But, VLC gets it just about perfect. Ol' Joe can still have the Simple options. Ol' Joe probably hasn't even got to touch them, as it comes with sensible defaults. VLC could be the goal, not the Facebook app for Android.
- TeMPOraL 9y ago
  > If you don't give them incentive to learn, they're not going to learn. You're stuck with dumb users - forever. You don't want that, do you? Here's the problem though: many companies in our industry do want that, even if they don't admit it to themselves. That's how they make money. A smart user will use their general-purpose computer and a suite of general-purpose software to solve their problems in a makeshift, but effective way. A smart user will not need to buy a service in a SaaS that's selling few textareas with a cloud sync. But a dumb user can be believed that "there's an app for that", and that things for which there is no app cannot be solved.
  - KGIII 9y ago
    It pains me to think that I'm going to have to take up programming again. I don't like it. I'm not good at it. But, it's the only reliable way I have of frustrating myself to the point of learning on a computer. What's wrong with an options menu and then an advanced options menu? People are down voting my comments that suggest keeping options in place in applications - on Hacker News. I don't even know what to think anymore. I miss my options menus. I miss the vast amounts of configuration choices. What I really miss is learning what all those options did. There is still plenty to learn, I miss that. I miss tweaking, configuring, and getting things just right. I miss the little things you could do to tie in a couple of apps and make them do things they weren't designed for. I miss the finding the undocumented settings that you only found when you hand edited config files. They inspired me to learn more. They kept things fresh. They made each person's install unique (which I admit is generally a bad idea in a corporate setting). When you design for the lowest common denominator, you get uninteresting, uninspiring, uncreative, inexpressive, bland consistency. We've gone from a multitude of choices to bland bowls of oatmeal. If need be, put the options behind an 'advanced options' radio button and emulate VLC. I'm not kidding when I point to VLC as being close to ideal. And no, I am not a curmudgeon. Computers and applications weren't better back in the day. In fact, they largely sucked. That's not because they had options, however. That's because they were slow and had access to so much less information. The options menu had nothing to do with it. I don't want to bring back old computers. I just want my options menu back, and populated with optional goodness. Do you use Windows? I haven't used it in years. However, there used to be a program called x-teq setup. It is now defunct, but that might have been the greatest Windows program ever made. It had a horrible interface, a UX was not even thought of, the UI was probably concocted while drunk, and it was an absolute security nightmare. But, you could tweak most any part of your OS with it. It's that sort of mentality that makes me want my options back.
TeMPOraL 9y ago
> And this is great, simple UI that means you can use it without a manual. Of course it requires a manual. You think it doesn't, probably because you saw your parents use it, or saw it used on TV (or because you're a technical person and figured it out yourself from first principles). Even such simple things are learned, and for some users, need to be explained. Hence appliances include manuals. Also: while you know how to use a toaster, if you find yourself in front of an appliance the type of which you've never seen before, you will naturally reach for its manual (maybe after first trying to figure it out yourself). You will not run away screaming, you'll learn to use it, and you will not think it is a weird thing. Similarly, nobody bats an eye at the prospect of having to learn how to drive, or use power tools. I think the single biggest sin UX is doing is promoting the expectation that using software is not something that requires learning. We're now training people into thinking they should become experts in 5 seconds, whereas in every other area of life there is an expectation of learning.

KGIII 9y ago

Indeed, so give me the option for that. I don't mind paying for software. Hell, I used to pay for my browser. Or, you know, stop dumbing it down in the first place. When you design for the lowest common denominator, you get users that are the lowest common denominator. I get it, it makes good financial sense. However, those of us with an IQ higher than room temperature are left out in the cold. You had those options in there - you took 'em out. Put 'em back. Joe Sixpack will learn and improve. You'll get better and smarter users. You'll get users more confident and needing less support. Take an extra day and write good help documents, put the options back, and give ol' Joe a web form to query the FAQs. Ol' Joe will figure it out. I did. Joe can figure it out too. We all did, back in the day. If you don't give them incentive to learn, they're not going to learn. You're stuck with dumb users - forever. You don't want that, do you? Do you really want to have to keep telling Joe how to set up his email client? No? Well, give Joe incentive to learn how to set up his email client. When Joe calls your helpdesk line, say, "Hey, Joe - did you read the manual?" Give him a reason to mash those buttons until he becomes an expert button masher (also known as an admin). And, if you can't train Joe, you can use some pretty neat tools to lock his PC right down - and only let him do what you want him to do. If it's his cell phone, well - that's what he's got the restore option for. Ol' Joe will quickly learn to push buttons, fix his own problems, and actually understand what goes on inside that magic box - at least a little. Seriously, we did this for decades. User friendly is good, but it's gone too far when there aren't even configuration options, a close button, a home button, or a help file. DId y'all forget how to write help documents? There's some great examples out there. You can crib from those. I'm not kidding about VLC pretty much having it perfect. Load up VLC and have a look in the options. Open VLC > Click on Tools > Click on Preferences. Once you're there, have a look around. That's pretty great, right? It's not too overwhelming, now is it? That's not the best part. In the lower left, click on "All." It's right next to the Simple option - simple, like Ol' Joe. Click on that button and then take a peek at the options. It's a virtual cornucopia of button goodness. It has options for things they're probably just making up as they go along. It's pretty much perfect. Even a plain text editor should have options like that. While not a plain text editor, LibraOffice is actually another example of a fine set of options. But, VLC gets it just about perfect. Ol' Joe can still have the Simple options. Ol' Joe probably hasn't even got to touch them, as it comes with sensible defaults. VLC could be the goal, not the Facebook app for Android.

TeMPOraL 9y ago
> If you don't give them incentive to learn, they're not going to learn. You're stuck with dumb users - forever. You don't want that, do you? Here's the problem though: many companies in our industry do want that, even if they don't admit it to themselves. That's how they make money. A smart user will use their general-purpose computer and a suite of general-purpose software to solve their problems in a makeshift, but effective way. A smart user will not need to buy a service in a SaaS that's selling few textareas with a cloud sync. But a dumb user can be believed that "there's an app for that", and that things for which there is no app cannot be solved.
- KGIII 9y ago
  It pains me to think that I'm going to have to take up programming again. I don't like it. I'm not good at it. But, it's the only reliable way I have of frustrating myself to the point of learning on a computer. What's wrong with an options menu and then an advanced options menu? People are down voting my comments that suggest keeping options in place in applications - on Hacker News. I don't even know what to think anymore. I miss my options menus. I miss the vast amounts of configuration choices. What I really miss is learning what all those options did. There is still plenty to learn, I miss that. I miss tweaking, configuring, and getting things just right. I miss the little things you could do to tie in a couple of apps and make them do things they weren't designed for. I miss the finding the undocumented settings that you only found when you hand edited config files. They inspired me to learn more. They kept things fresh. They made each person's install unique (which I admit is generally a bad idea in a corporate setting). When you design for the lowest common denominator, you get uninteresting, uninspiring, uncreative, inexpressive, bland consistency. We've gone from a multitude of choices to bland bowls of oatmeal. If need be, put the options behind an 'advanced options' radio button and emulate VLC. I'm not kidding when I point to VLC as being close to ideal. And no, I am not a curmudgeon. Computers and applications weren't better back in the day. In fact, they largely sucked. That's not because they had options, however. That's because they were slow and had access to so much less information. The options menu had nothing to do with it. I don't want to bring back old computers. I just want my options menu back, and populated with optional goodness. Do you use Windows? I haven't used it in years. However, there used to be a program called x-teq setup. It is now defunct, but that might have been the greatest Windows program ever made. It had a horrible interface, a UX was not even thought of, the UI was probably concocted while drunk, and it was an absolute security nightmare. But, you could tweak most any part of your OS with it. It's that sort of mentality that makes me want my options back.

TeMPOraL 9y ago

> And this is great, simple UI that means you can use it without a manual. Of course it requires a manual. You think it doesn't, probably because you saw your parents use it, or saw it used on TV (or because you're a technical person and figured it out yourself from first principles). Even such simple things are learned, and for some users, need to be explained. Hence appliances include manuals. Also: while you know how to use a toaster, if you find yourself in front of an appliance the type of which you've never seen before, you will naturally reach for its manual (maybe after first trying to figure it out yourself). You will not run away screaming, you'll learn to use it, and you will not think it is a weird thing. Similarly, nobody bats an eye at the prospect of having to learn how to drive, or use power tools. I think the single biggest sin UX is doing is promoting the expectation that using software is not something that requires learning. We're now training people into thinking they should become experts in 5 seconds, whereas in every other area of life there is an expectation of learning.